Best Possible Rugby

When 10 catches the ball he can run through a flow chart:

What part of the field am I on?
if in our 50m, Kick Flow.
If in their 50m, Run Flow.

Kick Flow
1. is one of the back 3 missing/out of place?
If yes kick to that space. If not…

2. bomb between two of them.
Or if the defense is rushing hard with no sweeper…

3. chip & chase behind rushing defenders.

Run Flow
Run hard at the 5th defender from the ruck to sit the defense, then:
1. is there a lazy 4th Defender for the blindside wing?
if yes pop inside. If not…

2. is there space for the slide runner (behind the punch runners)?
if yes pass out-the-back. If not…

3.is there a gap for me?
if yes take it! If not…

4.is there a gap for the punch runners?
if yes draw and pass.
If not… let them take contact for you anyway, and get yourself setup for the next phase.

Good Scrumhalves & Flyhalves understand the principle of patient & wise buildup: you don’t need to do everything on phase 1!

This is a great success if you can suck in defenders and force the defensive line onto the back foot as they retreat onside & figure out how to reset against your next phase.

If the 10 or 12 get the ball off of 1st phase, the defense is perfectly set up and targeting them.

Every playmakers dream is to run onto quick 2nd or 3rd phase ball, with a defense still trying to reset.

This is why we run a 9 ball or 10 ball forward pod. To get over the gainline, perhaps split the defense into two sides of the ruck.

So practically, you want your 9, 10 & 12 to understand that they want the forwards to carry on 1st phase or any time the defense is well set up.

Then you recycle quickly to get the ball into 10 or 12’s hands to let them have a go with their options at a backpedaling or split defense.

Different game plans require different player roles.
Rugby has changed a lot in the last decade.
We went from huge packs, ball possession supremacy, and training ground backline moves, to huge backs, field position supremacy, and multiple-phase play chess battles.

There are many different ways to think about what each position requires and that comes down to the game plan of the coach.

We like to design our team around the combination of each “positional couplet” and how they fit into our “Tight, Flat, Wide” game plan.

1 & 3
The Strong boys.
Props are expected to win scrums & mauls. And be impactful in the “Tight” game.
Strong carries. Strong tackles. Lots of ruck cleans. These guys can be the difference on attack when they can combine their brute strength with a good playmaker & attacking pattern.
Think Beast, Sinkler, Healy, Vunipola, Koch, Marler…

2 & 7
The Fearless boys.
They are often physically smaller than the rest of your pack, and that leads to them having a chip on their shoulder when it comes to proving their physicality on the field. These guys are gonna impact every aspect of the game.
They are gonna be leaders on defensive aggression, leaders on steals and slowing ball, they are gonna carry for every playmaker, they are gonna be there for the linebreak support line. They are the engine of the team. Their sheer intensity of will & fearlessness is inspiring to their teammates.
Think McCaw, Dane Coles, Marx, Curry, O’Mahony, Underhill, Guirado, Hooper, Pocock, Savea, Warburton, Louw, Kholisi, Kwagga Smit, Schalk Burger, Jaques Burger, George Smith.

4 & 8
The Power boys.
These are your big boys who are Hard Hitting & Aggressive.
These guys are gonna put in the big tackles, the big carries, the big clean outs.
They look for opportunities to dominate situations by brute force.
They will have a lower work rate than 5 & 6 as they recover from impacts and work their way into the next big impact.
Think Etsebeth, De Jaager, Falitau, Retallick, Vunipola, Vermeulen, Kruis, Lawes, Launchbury, Moriarty, Picamoles, Isa, Sotutu, Stander, Skelton, Bakkies Botha, Jerry Collins, Chabal.

5 & 6
The Workhorse boys.
These are your big boys who are Hard Working & Rugby Smart.
They are going to lead your set pieces and work hard at doing the basics well and ensure the boring work gets done.
Make the tackles, make the rucks, make the carries, make the support lines, keep getting up, keep showing up.
Think Whitelock, Itoje, AW Jones, PS Du Toit, Mostert, Snyman, Fardy, Robshaw, Haskell, Kieran Reade, Victor Matfield.

9
The Driver
Communication and rugby intelligence are essential.
The 9 “drives” his pack around the field, controlling the “tight game.”
A great 9 can go unnoticed through a match. Yet he will probably touch the ball close to 100 times during his shift. Thats 100 decisions in a multi layered attacking game plan.
Defensive systems are also run by the 9 as he is not expected to step into the defensive line. This allows him to monitor and direct his defenders. He will then sweep or insert as needed.

10 & 12
The Playmakers.
These are players who were born to pass the rugby ball.
You can picture those guys right now: the handful of players you have coached/ played with who when they pass the ball all the other guys go “wowww.”
The 10 game is all about controlling the “flat game.”
The 12 game is all about controlling the “wide game.” 

Think Fynn Russell, Danny Cipriani, Owen Farrell, Quade Cooper, Frans Steyn, Nonu, SB Williams, Mounga, Crotty…
Aren’t Nonu, SBW, & Steyn Gainliners? They sure are massive humans who can boss a gainline, but when you look at how they play they are always looking for the miracle pass, chip kick, offload to put their teammates away. They playmake first, gainline second. Their size allows them to play flat on the gainline and really sit a defense for the guys outside them.

13 & 11
The Gainliners.
These are the players who are great at sitting defenses & making meters, even through the heaviest traffic, whether it be by running insane angles & gaps, or by sheer size & power.

Think Savea, North, Tuilangi, Huw Jones, Janse van Rensburg, Serfontein, Kriel, Radradra, Vakatawa, Lomu, O’Driscoll, Conrad Smith.
But Serfontein is small and he plays 12 for the majority of his teams? He is small, but he is aggressive & always looks for the contact to protect the space outwide. He often takes 2 defenders over the gainline and does a great job of breaking a defense. Definitely a 13 in our style of play.

14 & 15
The Creators.
These are the players who make things happen through magic rather than might.
The guys who can step, trick, & pace themselves out of impossible situations.
They are often times smaller and so grew up having to use anything other than their size to beat & compete.

Think McKenzie, Kolbe, Le Roux, Hogg, Beauden Barrett, Ben Smith, Folau, O’Connor, Beale, Halfpenny…
Yes in my team Beauden Barrett would be playing 14 or 15. He is far better at Creating magic for himself than he is at playmaking others into space.
Same with Folau: he’s massive, wouldn’t he fit your 13 & 11 role? Yes he would. But again, he is far better at Creating magic for himself than he is at running punchlines to break or sit defenses.

When I first played rugby as a 6yr old boy, it was on dry winter afternoons, barefoot on the country club field in Winterton.

My coach, usually a friend’s dad, picked our positions by 2 simplified factors:
Big/ Slow boys played in the forwards.
Small/ Fast boys played in the backs.

Not much changed over the years and by the time I got to high school, we were confirmed in our positions by which players were our heroes.

Brian O’Driscoll & Ma’a Nonu were my schoolboy heroes. At Academy I had a poster of Frans Steyn on my wardrobe door. So that was that, I was a Center.

When I started coaching I got handed the job of deciding who played where.
It sent me into an ongoing study of who should play where, why, and how.

Every time I think I have cracked the code, I discover more nuance to positions & their best fits, but it all started with the Big, slow boys & the Small, fast boys.

For example, where the role of the centers are concerned, the BIG BUS used to play in the 12 channel and bash it up all day. Now with the use of forwards running flat in the 12 channel, our 12 no longer carries the burden of getting the team over the gain line. 

This allows the 12 to take on more of a playmaking role of controlling the “wide game.” The 13 becomes the one responsible for preserving the space &  winning the gainline outwide. Guitteau & Mortlock really pioneered this change.

Because of the strongside passing/running mechanics most left wings (11) get drifted into and so have to be powerful enough to bash back against the creep.
11’s get more ball, but 14’s get more space.

With fullbacks, historically they were expected to be lethal out wide, given space to attack with ball in hand. But we are seeing how they are just as dangerous slotting in at 1st receiver for a quick recycle to the short side, or to have a go at the fringes of the ruck if the big boys are caught on the back foot.

The 9, 10, & 12 are the Drivers of our attack.

The 9 controls the “Tight” game.

The 10 controls the “Flat” game.

The 12 controls the “Wide” game.

We play a series of options off the 9 at ruck time with the objective being to suck in the defense and prepare the way for either a Flat strike or a Wide strike.

The 9 plays his options “Tight” around the fringes of the ruck, until the 10 or 12 see something and call for the ball. His options are either to pass straight from the base of the ruck, or to pick the ball up and scoot sideways across the first 2 defenders: 2 Forwards coming in for a punch outside the 3rd defender, 1 forward or wing coming from blind for an inside ball, or an out-the-back pass behind the punch forwards to his 10 sliding out.

The 10’s objective is to attack “Flat” on the gainline with a series of options to choose from: 2 forwards coming in for a punch outside the 6th defender, 1 forward or wing coming from blind for an inside ball, a show & go, or an out-the-back pass behind the punch forwards to his 12 sliding out.

He has to play as flat to the defense as his fear and skill let him, in order to sit the defense and stop them from sliding onto his other options.
A 10 that passes too early/deep just shovels the defense on to the next guy.

The 12’s objective is to strike the space out “Wide” by using the 10’s Flat game as a decoy and attacking the edge, or gap, in the defense with a series of options to choose from: 13 coming in for a punch at the edge, the blindside wing coming for an inside ball, a show & go into the gap, an out-the-back pass behind the 13 punch to the 15 sliding out, or a grubber through for the openside wing if the opposition wing has come up into the defensive line. We do not recommend a skip pass to the wing because this shape is a huge temptation for the defensive winger to shoot up looking to intercept this obvious pass, so putting the grubber in behind him leaves him stuck.

The perfect team and tactics only lasts for a season.

But the friendships we form, and the culture we build with each other, lasts for a lifetime. 

Levels of intimacy and managing expectations:
In any club most of us will have +-3 best friends, +-10 good friends, and +-30 team mates. We don’t have to be best friends with every body, but we do hold space for each others differences, because we have the same mission. Get on team.

 

Personal Branding.
How do others see me? (3 words or phrases that people would use to describe me)
What is important to/about me, that I want others to know?

Social Media Responsibilities and consequences…

Is what I am doing making me look Impressive?

Building the Team’s Brand. Build “Your Name” Brand.

Building Rugby’s brand
On the field: No mercy. We are here to clean up.
Off the field we are all trying to develop the brand of Rugby, so have a good time with these guys who traveled hours just to have a chance to step onto the field against us.

On Campus:
If you are going to claim to be a “your team” Rugger, you better be impressive.
Always dress 1 degree better than the occasion. Be confident.
Always greet another man with a handshake and a glint in your eye.
Always greet your teacher/professor/coach at the beginning of any class/practice.
Always let ladies through the door first, unless it is into an unknown place in which case you enter first.
Speak well of your team mates in front of others.
You fight your brother in private, in public you die for him.

The reality is that there is always someone more talented than you.

But YOU have the full ability of maxing out your talent capacity through hard work.

Forget about competing against someone else for a starting position.

Instead take responsibility for creating the most excellent version of yourself.

Focus on yourself, not your competitors.

If you are playing B side, play how you would play if you were playing A side.

If you are playing A side, play how you would play if you were playing League/Regional Select Side.

You have got to be that more excellent player in your head and in your schedule before you will ever be in the team sheet.

Rugby is a dynamic environment. The next best player is always a match away.

Some players quit when they don’t make the A side. Excellent players don’t quit.

I will be the best player I’m capable of being, regardless of who is around me.

Every day is another opportunity to be excellent. Excellence attracts opportunities.

 

I went to academy with 3 guys who are now playing pro.

One played 5th team at his high school! One played 3rd team at his high school.

The other one was playing U/20B side rugby in a backwater club.

They all became Pro in their head and in their schedule before they ever got there in the team sheet. They never gave in to comparison. They never quit.

They created the excellent player they wanted to be.

There was a super star who was beyond better than all 60 of us at the academy.

But he compared himself to his competitors and got lazy and arrogant.

He made poor life choices, ended up blowing his talent, and never went past regional select level.

He would be playing test rugby now if he had decided in his head and in his schedule to be the most excellent player he was capable of being, regardless of his environment.